The Shoelace Scene Without The Shoelace
by xxbabewithbrainsxx
Summary: The scene in HP6, the movie, has been recreated so it is canon with the book. It's quite different from the one in the movie, but it was inspired by that scene. Please rate and review, all criticism welcomed :


The Gryffindor Quidditch team have just finished another practice. It is snowing heavily now, so the captain, Harry Potter, finally relents and lets them get changed. The team quickly shower, get dressed and wrap up warm before going out into the frigid wind that seems to be biting at any exposed flesh.

Ronald Weasley, the Gryffindor Keeper, is in a hurry. He is hungry and wants to get to dinner as quickly as possible. He showers as quickly as possible and puts on his clothes. His hair is still wet and more vivid red than usual. His green eyes are squinting in the snow as he gallops out into the cold blizzard to the Great Hall.

Harry Potter is very cold in the shower, despite the water being warm. He steps out, towels off and hurriedly throws on his clothes. Harry shakes his wet hair and does his best to towel it dry. He puts his socks and trainers on, followed by his jacket, scarf and gloves. Putting up his hood, he heads out of the changing room, his hands in his pockets.

Ginevra Weasley, the Chaser, quickly slips on her grey wraparound jacket and pulls on her black gloves and scarf. She grabs her bag and goes out of the changing room, switching off the light as she went. Katie and Demelza have already gone, wanting dinner.

Ginny walks quickly across the snow, her boots crunching in the snow. Snows falls gently on her red hair. So much for drying it with the drying charm, she thinks gloomily. Her head is down and she doesn't notice the tall, lean figure slightly ahead of her. Unexpectedly, she bumps into the person in front of her. He turns around at once, causing her to fall back slightly. Because of the snow, she slips and falls, landing in the snow, flat on her back.

"Are you OK, Ginny?" says Harry. He offers her his hand, and she gratefully takes it and he pulls her up back to her feet. They are both breathless and shivering, especially Ginny because of her jacket which is covered in snow. Harry brushes the snow off her back, as that is where the snow is the most.

"Yeah…I'm fff-fine," she stutters in the cold. "Just cold." Ginny's cheeks have gone pink and she cannot feel several of her toes. She feels awkward and embarrassed because she had just fallen in the snow, in front of him. He looks concerned, and is staring at her, so she tries to make a joke out of it and act like she's not embarrassed. She leans forwards and whispers cheekily, "Don't worry, Harry. My arse broke the fall."

He laughs, and they start walking together, talking about Quidditch. Suddenly Ginny stops. "What's up?" Harry asks, turning around.

She laughs, pointing at his ankle. "What?" he says. He is half-annoyed, half-amused; he doesn't like it when people laugh at him, but it is Ginny after all.

"You've tucked your jeans into your socks," she tells him.

"Oh, yeah, probably because I was getting dressed in a bit of a rush."

Before Harry can do anything, though, Ginny comes forward, bends down and pulls his socks down. Straightening the bottoms of his jeans, her gloved hands brush his ankles briefly. She realises that he has gone very still. She quickly stands up again, raising her eyebrows in that questioning way of hers.

He sees that she is suddenly very close to her. The snow falls on them relentlessly, covering them with white flakes. The coldness of the wind is long forgotten as they stare at each other. They don't say a word as they seem to go closer to each other, until…

"Ginny!" calls Dean, barely audible in the snow. Her back is to him and she whips around, trying to see in the distance for Dean through the blizzard. Dean can't see them because of all the snow and of Ginny's position. Gesturing to Harry without looking at him, they both struggle to walk on as the wind makes it hard for them to move forward. They don't look at each other but look straight ahead.

Finally, they have reached Dean. Harry immediately veers left to the Great Hall, and Ginny and Dean follow, lagging behind a little. He hears a snatch of their conversation.

"Aren't you cold? Here, take my jacket."

"No, I'm fine, Dean." Ginny's irritable voice, which had been so cheerful moments before, surprised Harry.

"Ginny, I insist." He hears the sound of unzipping.

"I don't want your jacket. For once in your life, seriously, stop caring so much."

Dean tries to lighten up the mood. "Someone's a bit tetchy today, aren't they?" he says annoyingly.

This comment is followed by silence as Ginny speeds up, catching up with Harry again. "Bloody hell," she mutters to no one in particular. They enter the Great Hall in a comfortable quietness. He knows when not to say anything to Ginny if she's in a mood.

Harry spots his best friends, Ron and Hermione. Ron is eating a fourth helping of shepherd's pie and Hermione is picking moodily at her potatoes. They are sitting at different spots on the long table. They've been having a tiff again, Harry thinks, groaning. Honestly, they're like a married couple sometimes. He considers who he should sit with. He decides on Ron. Ginny heads in the direction of Hermione. Harry can see her sitting down opposite her.

Ginny is grateful that Harry didn't join Hermione at the dinner table. She needs girl-time. She explains the whole thing that happened with Harry, pouring gravy on her shepherd's pie as she talks. Hermione is patient and listens attentively, not interrupting her. Since Ginny's second year at Hogwarts, Hermione has been something of a personal relationships counsellor for Ginny.

Hermione waits until Ginny is finished, and takes a sip of pumpkin juice. "Well, I have to admit that Harry has been acting a bit odd. He was in the summer a bit, but I thought that was —"

They both say simultaneously: "— him being a guy."

"Exactly. But lately, he's been acting even weirder. Seriously, I don't know what's got into him. Is there something that happened that might have made him feel like that?" Hermione enquires.

The younger girl thinks back, to everything that has happened this year that would make him act as strange as he has been of the late. She frowns, thinking back to when he and Ron had caught her and Dean kissing. Come to think of it, she thinks, he did have a strange look on his face.

"When?" Hermione asks.

"Huh?" Ginny says, confused. "Did I just speak my thoughts?"

"You said, 'Come to think of it, he did have that strange look on his face'."

"OK, that's just weird. But anyway —" Ginny pauses. Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown have just seated themselves next to Ginny. They immediately started giggling and gossiping with each other. Hermione rolls her eyes, and Ginny mutters, "We'll talk later."


End file.
